Shadows of Townlong
by sheamcnamara
Summary: The Shado-Pan have made great strides in dealing with the challenges that face them in the Townlong Steppes, but the Sha of Fear's escape from beneath Niuzao Temple has left its mark, and there may be an even greater threat lurking in its wake... [Author's note: My first attempt at fiction! It could do with more rewrites, but I've decided to move on to original projects.]


_Fear: What was once a survival instinct for our primal ancestors, is now considered a great weakness to the races of Azeroth. But it is not _experiencing_ fear that makes one weak; it is succumbing to it._

_The mogu, a race borne of stone much like the dwarves of the Eastern Kingdom, once ruled Pandaria with an iron fist. Their leader Shan Bu has gone into hiding since the defeat of his corrupted wind serpent Hei Feng at the Temple of Niuzao. I fear we will see him again sooner than we would hope. _

_The yaungol, descendants of the tauren who have been stranded on Pandaria since the Great Sundering ten thousand years ago, are in constant conflict with the pandaren settlers in Kun-Lai Summit. Here, in the Townlong Steppes, we have finally driven them back into the mountains to the north after killing many of their leaders. I fear they will not give up the fight so easily._

_The mantid, an ancient insectoid race who swarm the walls of the Serpent's Spine every one hundred years, have taken up their war a decade sooner than expected. I fear they will win._

_I have these fears, but I will not let them be used as a weapon against me._

These were my thoughts as I sat cross-legged in a meditative pose taught to me by Lorewalker Pao of the Shado-Pan; an organization comprised of Pandaria's strongest warriors who dedicate their lives to defending the land against these threats. I took a deep breath, inhaling the salty breeze rising from the sea below as the waves crashed on the cliff. Using this breath I gathered my fears, then after several heartbeats exhaled, releasing them. I repeated the ritual twice more before finally opening my eyes to the sun just beginning to set on the horizon.

"Are you meditating, or waiting for the turtle?" a voice teased and I turned to regard its pandaren owner. She approached from the temple astride a great armored tiger, the customary mount of the Shado-Pan. Taoshi was one of the Shado-Pan's deadliest assassins, a Wu Kao disciple, right hand of the Shado-Pan's leader Lord Taran Zhu, and a woman for whom I'd gained much fondness and respect for in the weeks I had spent in the Steppes.

"I wasn't aware blood elves were permitted on the Wandering Isle," I retorted with a grin as I watched her hitch her mount next to mine — a Thalassian charger I'd had since I first became an officer of the Blood Knight Order.

"From what I hear, he's taking on all manner of strange creatures these days," She said, flashing a wry smile as she sat next to me. Once situated she reached up to adjust the band at the base of her braid, which almost reached the grass behind her. Her hair was a dark gray to match the fur covering her ears and the pattern around her striking green eyes, the rest of her face stark white in captivating contrast. "Then again," she continued, "I am not sure the leaders of your Horde would appreciate you so readily abandoning your diplomatic mission among us superstitious natives."

I scoffed. "After what happened in the Jade Forest, I would hope they view the sha as more than superstition. Much more." The sha were, in fact, the most pressing threat to Pandaria. Physical embodiments of negative emotion that would possess any host who harbored such emotion, then spread to infect and destroy everything around it. Hatred, anger, fear... The pandaren had spent generations learning to keep these emotions under control through discipline and meditation. Through their efforts the sha had been kept at bay for thousands of years.

Then two months ago, the mists which had protected Pandaria lifted and the Horde and Alliance arrived, bringing their hatred, anger, and fear with them, reawakening the sha with violent abruptness and devastating results. I had been there in the Jade Forest when our forces met the Alliance at the Serpent's Heart, and witnessed the sha monstrosity our unbridled emotion had unleashed wreak havoc on the land.

"Even as I work side by side with your people to correct the collective mistake of mine," I said remorsefully, "I am at times convinced the best course of action would be for all of us, Horde and Alliance, to simply leave Pandaria so that it might once again know peace."

"We are taught that there is never light without darkness, nor darkness without light," Taoshi assured me, looking out onto the ocean. "The parting of the mists may have brought back the sha but it also brought back the sunset. An uneven trade, perhaps, but I am glad to be among the first pandaren in ten thousand years to see it." She paused and glanced at me with such subtlety that I might have imagined it. "Light can often come from a place we least expect it — and even the smallest flame can pierce the blackest night."

"I suppose you're right." I leaned back and smiled in reminiscence. "My younger sister, Lisanna... she loved to watch the sunset. We'd sit on the beach and she'd regale me with stories about her training at the mage academy in Silvermoon. One time she tried to conjure a volley of arcane missiles as a make-shift fireworks display... let's just say I learned the hard way just how long it takes for these eyebrows to grow back."

This was met with an outburst I doubt anyone who knew her would expect from Taoshi, not even Lord Zhu himself. I sat back up and chided her half-heartedly. "You laugh, but at the time I was just barely an initiate within the Blood Knight Order! I get grief about it to this very day from my fellow officers." She began to offer an apology but it devolved into more laughter when she turned to meet my mock-indignant glare. I grinned as she finally relented with a satisfied sigh.

"You and your sister must be very close."

The comment caught me off-guard and I took a long moment to respond. "We were," I said finally, and felt my smile weaken. "She... passed away, eight years ago now."

"I'm so sorry," she said, placing her hand on mine, her eyes regarding me with earnest sympathy.

"It's all right," I said warmly and gazed back out onto the ocean. "There is never light without darkness."

We sat in silence, watching the last sliver of the sun's reflection bounce off the ocean waters in a cosmic farewell, until it finally fell beyond the distant horizon. The crimson sky slowly faded into a deep violet, stars appearing against it as if it were a sheet of paper being run through with needles. The light of the two moons danced playfully on the water as if attempting to assert their beauty over the sun. The air was still, nothing to be heard but my own heartbeat and the waves lapping at the cliff below.

Then there was a sound, very faint and distant behind us. I cocked my head instinctively and Taoshi looked a question at me, but before I could respond the piercing clang of the gong at Niuzao Temple startled us to our feet.

"You go on ahead to the camp," she said as we made haste to our mounts. "I'll check out the temple first and meet you there."

"_Al diel shala_." I bid her safe travel in Thalassian tongue, then rode hard back to Shado-Pan Garrison.

* * *

I awoke early the next morning. Thankfully the alarm the night before had been nothing too serious _— _on the surface, anyhow. One of the smaller Blackguard watch posts to the north was attacked and the two guards stationed there had made their way back to camp. One of them, Chou, was completely catatonic but otherwise unharmed. His partner Meilin was awoken by his panicked screams just as the sun was setting, but by the time she reached him the enemy had vanished. Meilin told us that before he fell into his current state Chou just kept screaming incomprehensibly about shadows and yaungol.

It was a disturbing tale, but the implications of the yaungol attacking on such a small scale without leaving any casualties was my chief concern. The yaungol were a tribal people by necessity, rarely did one strike out on their own. Those that did were outcasts among their people — either deranged or deemed too weak to waste their already strained resources — and did not usually survive long without the tribe's support. The yaungol were also relentless in battle and once committed would sooner die than retreat. This meant that either the culprit of last night's attack was a particularly strong foe to have successfully separated from the tribe, or the yaungol had, for some indeterminable reason, made a drastic change to their tactics.

_I'm not sure which would be worse_, I thought to myself as I finished dressing, _but I suppose we'll know soon enough. _I shelved the internal debate and stepped out of my tent at the southern end of the camp. The air was cool and crisp, the sun just beginning to rise above the hills to the east, and I was shortly greeted by the substantial pandaren seated at the nearby campfire.

"Good morning my pointy-eared friend!" Lao-Chin — nicknamed "Iron Belly" among the Shado-Pan for reasons immediately obvious to anyone who made his acquaintance — motioned to the seat across from him. "Come, sit! I've already got some tea brewing for you."

I obliged, taking the cup he offered and removing the kettle from the fire to fill it. A cloud of steam rose as I poured, casting a light aroma of green tea and jasmine. I set the kettle down next to me and held the cup with both hands as I sipped.

"Delicious as always, Lao-Chin."

"The ale is even more so," he said, refilling his own drink from the keg perched on a stand next to him. "It's a shame you elves can't hold your alcohol."

"My friend," I chuckled, "your physique is simply more... attuned to it than mine."

"Ha! Then maybe I should let _you_ carry the keg around." He chugged the entire stein as if to validate my observation and I smiled and took another sip of my own drink.

"Any improvement in Chou's condition?" I asked after a moment, turning the conversation to more serious matters. Lao-Chin frowned and shook his head.

"Yalia tried every trick she knows," he said, referring to camp's Omnia priestess, "and Meilin's been by his bed all night talking to him, trying to stir him out of it. Poor thing."

"Any word from Taoshi?"

A sly grin appeared on Lao-Chin's face. "None yet. She took a couple of our people up to the ruins of Fire Camp Osul," he replied, gesturing over his shoulder.

"Blackguard? Why not her fellow Wu Kao?"

He shrugged. "We've been in charge of keeping the yaungol in check up north, maybe she just wanted some extra insurance."

"Hum." I took another sip of tea and my eyes wandered to the northeast in the direction of the aforementioned ruins, noting the ominous storm clouds beginning to roll in. A sudden burst of laughter came from Lao-Chin, and I cocked an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

"She had that same look in her eye last night when I told her you had gone to the temple." He grinned wickedly. "So, are you two..."

I shook my head, fighting desperately to keep the color out of my face as I felt it begin to heat, staring into the fire as I answered. "No. Just good friends."

"I see," he replied, and from the edge of my periphery I saw his smile widen. "So, a hundred years isn't long enough for your kind to get past schoolyard crushes?"

I didn't answer, just gazed into the flames, willing them to strike out and engulf me that I might escape Lao-Chin's torment.

"I have known Taoshi a long time," he went on, filling his stein for a third time. "I can't say I've seen her get on with anyone quite as well as she does with you."

A long moment passed, and finally — my attempts at pyrokinetic self-immolation having failed — I surrendered and looked up at Lao-Chin. "So... what should I do?"

"My friend," he began to answer, his tone unexpectedly earnest, "first you have to figure out what it is you actually want. Then you need to do whatever it takes to get it and hold onto it, because life is too short." He tipped his stein back and finished it with a satisfied sigh. "Well, ours is anyway."

I stared into the fire a few moments more, finished off my drink, stood and bowed. "Thank you, Lao-Chin."

He smiled warmly and nodded. "Any time, friend. Oh, and if you run into Yalia, tell her she owes me a drink. We... had a little bet going."

I shook my head incredulously as he laughed, and left to attend to morning duties.

* * *

"This should be everything," I said with a grunt, setting down the last load of damaged weapons and armor next to the anvil. The morning had passed quickly and quietly. The sun was now directly overhead, every so often shining through the dark clouds that had begun to gather. "Looks like it might rain."

Rushi the quartermaster glanced up at the sky as he begun work on organizing the equipment. "Shouldn't be too bad of a storm this time of year."

It was then that I noticed two pandaren ride into camp from the east. One wore heavy armor with a shield on his back and a sword on his belt, the other in leather with a large monk's staff strapped to the side of his saddle. They were Blackguard, and I noticed Lao-Chin and two other senior Blackguard disciples gather as the new arrivals approached Master Snowdrift, the commander of the Blackguard at the garrison.

"Are those the two who went with Taoshi this morning?" I asked, and Rushi nodded.

"That's them all right. Hope they found those savages and put 'em down." The disgust was thick in his voice, and he didn't seem to notice Taoshi wasn't with them.

"Indeed," I replied. "Are you all right here?"

"Yes, that ought to do it. Thanks for the help."

I nodded and jogged over to join the group that had converged on Master Snowdrift. Lao-Chin regarded me as I approached and stood next to him. To his left was Master Snowdrift, who had just finished asking a question when I arrived.

"Just some tracks and a burnt-out campfire," the one with the shield replied. "Definitely yaungol, though."

"And Taoshi?" I asked out of turn, and looked an apology at Snowdrift. None of the faces in the circle betrayed any sense of concern at her absence, but it did little to quell my uneasiness.

"She ordered us back to camp, said she could move faster on her own. Last we saw she was headed towards what's left of Fire Camp Osul."

"Sounds like Taoshi to me," said the female pandaren standing across from me, leaning on a large, menacing pole-arm. "I'm sure she just wants to take out those bastards with her own two hands."

To her right was Protector Yi, who was less flippant in his regard of the situation. "I don't think anyone would disagree that she can handle herself, Chao," he said, "but Osul is still quite close to the mountains. Whoever perpetrated last night's attack exhibited an obvious tactical difference compared to how the yaungol usually operate. She could be walking right into a trap."

"Now now," Lao-Chin reassured in common fashion, "Taoshi may be brash but she is no fool. If she truly expected danger she would have signaled us well before these two arrived."

Snowdrift, still stroking his beard, had been listening intently as each person offered their opinions. After a moment he asked of the warrior, "Did she say when we should expect her return?"

"No sir," he replied. "Just that she was going to investigate the ruins."

"Very well. Dismissed."

In the traditional Shado-Pan salute the two each brought their right fist to left palm at chest level, bowed sharply, then took their leave. The remainder of the group closed into a tight circle, and it was my turn to offer an opinion. "Normally I wouldn't worry about Taoshi being on her own, but I agree with Yi's assessment of last night's attack. Something has changed in the yaungol's behavior."

Protector Yi nodded and the four of us waited patiently as Snowdrift came to a decision.

"We will see," he said finally. "Osul has been long abandoned, and if any force large enough to present a challenge to Taoshi had moved there it would have been noticed by our kites." He motioned to address Yi and myself. "I appreciate your concerns, but if those responsible for last night's attacks are present in the ruins, it may only hinder Taoshi for more of us to show up; that is probably why she dismissed the others." He glanced up at the sky. "It is early in the afternoon yet. If we have not heard anything by dusk, we will act."

I was disappointed, but he was right. The tactics taught by the Wu Kao relied on the element of surprise, and removing that element by showing up in force could possibly do more harm than good. It was then that I noticed Lao-Chin's attention had wandered.

"We will not want to wait that long," he said, gesturing to the northeast. I followed his gesture, and Chao and Yi turned to do so as well, and my earlier uneasiness turned to dread as I saw the red smoke that rose from the ruins. An emergency flare.

"Yi, Lao-Chin, prepare to ride out," Snowdrift barked. "Chao, get a kite in the air. Move!" The three came to attention, quickly saluted and went about it.

"You must let me go with them," I implored.

"I'm certain you would go even if I refused," Snowdrift replied. "Good luck."

I saluted, and ran to catch up with the others.

* * *

"_Anar'alah_," I cursed. "What is taking so long?" I paced through the grass as we watched the silhouette of the kite against the darkened sky as it danced back and forth over the ruins of Fire Camp Osul just a few hundred yards east of us.

"Patience, my friend," Lao-Chin said.

Protector Yi, still mounted atop his tiger, nodded in agreement. "The scout we sent north saw no signs of them fleeing back to the mountains, so we know they are still here. It is possible they used the flare themselves to lure us into a trap."

The subtext of that last suggestion was grim. Lao-Chin recognized it too, and placed a paw firmly on my shoulder. "She is fine. I am sure of it."

The kite made one final circuit around the edge of the ruins and swooped down into a low approach to our position, its rider waiting until she was just a few yards away before suddenly pulling up the nose and gracefully hopping off. That rider was Chao, and she was shaking her head as she approached us. "The place is a mess, but there was definitely someone here recently."

"Yaungol?" Yi's question was met with a shrug.

"Maybe. There was a burnt-out campfire near one of the few tents still standing. I found the flare though. Looks like it was dropped in some bushes just outside the northeast part of the camp."

"All right," Yi began, "Chao, you're with me. We'll circle around to the north and investigate the scene around the flare." He then addressed Lao-Chin and myself, already mounted and waiting for his order. "Head in from the south and start a sweep of the tents. Don't let your guard down."

"Chao never was one to overstate things," Lao-Chin remarked sourly as we approached the edge of the camp. "This is where you first met up with Taoshi and Lord Zhu, isn't it?"

"It is." We dismounted and hitched our mounts to a nearby tree. Indeed, a "mess" was likely the most pleasant way to describe what awaited us within Fire Camp Osul. A month and a half earlier I had been here fighting the yaungol alongside Ban Bearheart and Suna Silentstrike, and the aftermath of that battle still remained.

"I heard what the yaungol did to Suna's husband and what happened to her afterwards. For the sha to infect such a strong woman..."

"Grief and vengeance can be more dangerous than any sword, especially to the one who wields them." We drew our weapons as we entered into the camp.

"How do you want to handle the search?" Lao-Chin whispered. Osul, like all yaungol Fire Camps, was quite large and split into several distinct "districts." The one we had entered into was one of the smaller ones, with pens for yaks and other livestock. To the north were the oil wells; burning oil was a frightening staple of the yaungol's arsenal. To the east of that on a small mesa was the largest section of the camp with the most tents still standing, the living quarter, and where I suggested we begin.

We hiked up and entered near what used to be a yaungol ceremony pile, where Ban, Suna and I had defeated the leader of the camp. Now there was only the remains of a massive funeral pyre, lit in haste by the Shado-Pan after taking the camp those weeks ago. The yaungol had little respect for the dead — neither their enemy's nor their own — and there had not been enough time for a proper burial. It had long since burned out and the spring rains had washed away the ashes, exposing a gruesome heap of bodies and parts that the fire hadn't been able to consume.

Lao-Chin grimaced, and I reiterated the plan to focus him. "We will split up from here and regroup at the other end of the mesa," I explained. "I will go north. If you find something, call out immediately." Lao-Chin nodded and we went about it.

I carefully pushed open the flap of the first tent I came to with my sword. It was empty but for a few broken clay pots and the scattered leftovers of straw bedding. The flap of the next tent had been torn off. With each empty tent the unease in the pit of my stomach intensified. _Come on Taoshi, _I thought to myself. _Where __in the blazes__ are you?_

Soon the rain began to fall, and I quickened my pace. Tent after tent, with no signs of life whatsoever. As I moved to open another, a flash of lightning cast a shadow on the canvas. No, two shadows. Mine, and... before I could consider it, a voice cut through the storm. "Come, quickly!"

Suddenly, I was running. I strained to hear through the rolling thunder and the splashing of mud beneath me. Strained desperately to hear the clanging of weapons, but there were no sounds of battle. The implication left me numb. I passed the burnt-out campfire Chao had mentioned and followed the voice to a small tent near the edge of the mesa, and the sobbing coming from within confirmed my greatest fear. I did not want to go in. I could stay outside in the rain. I could leave this place and go back to Silvermoon. I... couldn't.

I stepped inside the tent. Somehow, the lifeless body in Lao-Chin's arms had Taoshi's face. It had that same pattern around its emerald eyes, staring off into eternity. It looked just like her, but it couldn't be her. She wasn't dead.

I dropped my weapon, paralyzed. All I could feel were the tears streaming down my face. All I could hear was my heart straining to beat. All I could see was... the shadow. The shadow grew, consuming the tent, consuming Lao-Chin and Taoshi, and as it began to consume me I almost understood — but it was too late. I was consumed by that shadow, and then there was only darkness.

* * *

_Brother... you promised... you wouldn't miss the sunset... brother..._

"Lisanna..."

"Good, you're awake." The booming voice echoed relentlessly in my head, eventually subsiding and replaced with the pattering of rain, and I grimaced as I opened my eyes. I appeared to be in a small cave — it was night now, the space lit by torches ensconced on the walls and candles which illuminated the table across from me. On the table were all manner of sinister-looking implements which the owner of the voice had been inspecting. It was a table similar to the one I was currently laying on, and I struggled against the leather straps holding me to it.

"Who," I started to say, then coughed through the unexpected dryness of my mouth. "Who are you? What do you want?"

"My name is Duran." The gravelly-voiced yaungol picked up one of the candles and turned to me. Red eyes shone menacingly through his gray mane, matted and unkempt. One of his horns had been sawed off, and the space between his nostrils displayed a gruesome scar where a nose ring might have been. "Surely you remember my brother, Uruk." He gestured to the shadows, and another yaungol stepped forth.

Or what used to be a yaungol. I recognized him, as I was the one who ran my sword through his chest to form the hole that was still there. His corpse had been twisted and animated with dark magic, its eyes stark white, pale splotches of decaying flesh where hair had been... and there was something else. It was a corruption that was familiar to me. The creature's hands had contorted into claws of white and black, and the shadows themselves seemed to gather to them and then liquefy, dripping soundlessly to the floor of the cave.

"So it's revenge you want, is it?"

"Quite the opposite," he replied, almost cheerfully. "Uruk squandered his power. His vision was pathetically limited, and his death was indeed a boon to me. True, his experiments with raising spirits of the mogu were quite successful, but he was not able to see the next logical step in manifesting and controlling their power."

"The sha."

"I trust you've seen their power first hand. Uruk's death and the Sha of Fear's escape from its prison beneath Niuzao Temple brought me an unprecedented opportunity." He smiled viciously. "Your capture means my plan will come to fruition at last. The mantid, the pandaren, even the mogu will be crushed under the might of the yaungol."

"The sha are raw emotion made manifest. They infect and consume life. They can't be controlled."

"Indeed, you see the problem. However, I have no designs on using their power myself. When possessing a living creature, the sha enhances a singular emotion. That emotion is invariably destructive, both to the victim and those around him. Eventually the victim either dies or completely succumbs to the emotion and transforms into a manifestation of the sha... but what if the sha was made to possess that which wouldn't succumb to emotion, that which had already died? You see, where my brother thought he had reached the pinnacle of necromancy, it was only the first step."

"So what do you want with me? Why are you telling me this?"

"I've watched you ever since you arrived in Townlong Steppes. This... 'light' you wield is greater a power than any I have ever seen."

"Release me and I will show you just how powerful it is."

He laughed humorlessly. "I have no doubt you would. Be assured, you are going to die here, elf — but I will grant your Shado-Pan allies a swift, merciful death if you relinquish the secrets of your power beforehand." He took a large knife from the table and held it up to the flame in examination, then turned to me with a devilish look in his eye. "I may even spare the female that escaped before you arrived."

I felt the color drain from my face. "Taoshi is dead. I saw it with my own eyes."

"Yes, I suppose you did. Indeed, I saw many horrible things when I first began experimenting with the sha. Their defense mechanisms are quite formidable, able to reach into your mind and show you that which you most fear to see..."

"You are lying!" I roared. "Kill me now and be done with it."

"He is not lying." The voice hit me like a lightning bolt, paralyzing and heart-stopping.

Suddenly, Uruk — or whatever he was now — fell crumpled to the floor. Duran brandished his knife at the darkness but by then Taoshi was already behind him; she jumped onto his back and quickly wrapped a garrote around his neck. He slashed and grabbed furiously at her, the loud clanging of instruments filling the cave as the other table was knocked over in the struggle. She managed to hang on for several seconds before he finally managed to catch her tunic with his free hand, then flipped her over his shoulder into the shadows where she disappeared once more.

"You will not leave here alive, Shado-Pan scum!" Shadows gathered in his right hand and he tossed bolts of magic wildly throughout the cave. "You and your elven mate will be the vanguard of my undead army!"

Taoshi appeared behind him again and thrust a dagger deep in his side. A deafening roar filled the cave as Duran swung his own weapon around in a wide arc. She fell into a crouch beneath it and thrust another dagger into his arm above her. He dropped the knife and roared again, conjuring a burst of shadow magic that knocked Taoshi off balance. Duran grabbed her by the neck and laughed triumphantly as he lifted her into the air.

"You see elf, I will not be defeated." He tightened his grip and the shadows began to gather around Taoshi's face, smothering her. "I gave you a chance. Now you will watch her die, and then you will join her."

"Not this time," I growled, and let loose the power I had been focusing during the fight. The brilliant orb in the palm of my hand exploded outwards, filling the room with a light only myself and Taoshi — thanks to Duran's own magic — were not blinded by. The yaungol roared and staggered backwards, dropping Taoshi in an attempt to cover his eyes with his one good hand. She recovered quickly to take advantage and with a short sweeping kick he was on the ground, writhing in blind rage. Without hesitation she took the knife Duran had dropped and with a single motion stuck it deep into his heart.

"Taoshi..."

"I'm fine," she said, still kneeling over the body, panting heavily. "Thanks for the assist." She took a moment to catch her breath then came to the table.

"I thought you were dead," my voice came out low and husky, and I felt a sting at the back of my eyes.

She smiled and wiped the tears from my face, then undid the leather straps holding me to the table. "Can you walk?"

"I think so," I grunted as I climbed off the table and leaned on her for support.

"Then let's get you home."

* * *

I took my seat at the large table in the command tent of Shado-Pan Garrison. To my left was Taoshi, and we exchanged a smile as I sat. To my right was Lao-Chin, already with two empty steins in front of him, working on his third. Indeed, every senior member of the Shado-Pan was present, with Lord Taran Zhu himself presiding at the head of the table. Last night had been a hero's welcome. This afternoon was business. With myself being the last person seated, Lord Zhu spoke.

"I will proceed assuming everyone has read through the report of yesterday's events," he said, and the heads around the table nodded in acknowledgement. "Good. Chao, you have been monitoring activity at Fire Camp Osul, correct?"

"Yes Lord Zhu," she replied. "No other yaungol have been spotted coming or leaving. I suspect Duran had been acting alone — well, alone with that crazy puppet of his."

"About that. What happened to Uruk after Duran was killed?" Zhu's question was directed at Taoshi, and she shrugged.

"To be honest, I have no idea where that thing went. I sapped it before going after Duran, and by the time we left the cave it was gone."

"Maybe with its master dead it just jis-" Lao-Chin fumbled his words for a second, which was met with some chuckles and shaking heads around the table.

"Disintegrated," I finished for him, and he raised his stein to me in gratitude.

"I sent some men back to the cave this morning," offered Master Snowdrift. "They didn't find much of anything. No tracks, and no remains except for Duran's."

"Yaungol, mogu spirits, and sha." Chao shook her head. "I wouldn't want to run into something like that on a night patrol."

"You joke," Protector Yi chided, "but we still don't know how he managed to do it."

"Does it matter?" Chao snorted. "As far as we know, Duran didn't have any apprentices. The knowledge died with him."

Yi wasn't convinced. "And if it didn't, it could be the end of us all."

"Enough," Taran Zhu interrupted. "Chao is right. Duran was an outcast among his people. Even Uruk was on the edge in dealing with mogu spirits. The yaungol would want no part of the sha, even to drive out the mantid."

After leering a moment at Chao, Yi relented. "Let us hope you are right."

"On the point of the sha," I began to ask. "Have the records of what we encountered been released to Lorewalker Pao?"

"Not yet," replied Taran Zhu. "We are still compiling the information. Why do you ask?"

"Lord Zhu, I appreciate your reticence to involve the Shado-Pan in matters pertaining to the war between my people and the Alliance," I began to reply, and he leveled his gaze at me. "...And I have no desire to drag you into a confrontation with either side. That is why I request the information regarding Duran and Uruk be kept from both the Horde and the Alliance."

"It is not in the interest of the Lorewalkers to restrict knowledge," he replied coolly.

"I understand that. However, I have been getting troubling reports from the south. The Warchief, Garrosh — there are rumors that he is also looking for a way to harness the sha's power for his own gain." The tent filled with troubled murmurs, and Taran Zhu motioned for quiet so that I could continue. "I am loyal to the Horde, but I along with many of my fellow soldiers are beginning to see a troubling pattern. If Garrosh does find a way to control the sha — by whatever means — it could be disastrous to more than just the Alliance."

The tent fell silent. All eyes were on Taran Zhu, and his were on me, his stare seeming to pierce into my soul. Finally, he spoke.

"Ban," he spoke to Ban Bearheart, commanding officer of the Omnia — the order of mages and priests within the Shado-Pan — and the first of the Shado-Pan's members that I had fought beside in Townlong Steppes. "There are provisions within the code of the Shado-Pan to allow for matters pertaining to the security of the realm to be kept from the Lorewalker, is there not?"

"There is, Lord Zhu," Ban replied with a nod. "However, it does require consensus among the senior members present."

"Very well then, Ban, would you agree that it would be appropriate to apply such a provision in this case?"

Ban looked at me and smiled. "I would."

"Master Snowdrift?"

"I am with Ban," Snowdrift said and motioned to me, "and our elven friend here." I nodded to him in thanks.

"And you, Ling?" he asked of the female pandaren sitting just across from me — Ling of the Six Pools, leader of the Wu Kao and Taoshi's direct superior. Her face was stern as she looked at Taoshi, then at me, and finally responded.

"Lord Zhu, it will be a cold day in hell before I allow the cursed power of the sha to be used against _anyone_. You have my vote."

"Then it is done. All knowledge of Duran and Uruk will be omitted from the books of the Lorewalkers." Taoshi squeezed my hand tight and we smiled as the tension of the room was released into a general buzz of relief.

"Now where's dinner?" Lao-Chin cried out drunkenly, and was met with laughter, cheers, and applause.

* * *

Dinner had finished at last, and we had begun to filter out when Taran Zhu stopped me and waited for the rest of the party to exit the tent before speaking.

"I have a correspondence addressed to you," he said, handing me an envelope. "Delivered just this morning by courier."

I cocked an eyebrow as I broke the envelope's seal, the royal sigil of Quel'Thalas, and began reading.

_Champion,_

_Know that the Horde and Quel'Thalas appreciates your diplomatic efforts with the Shado-Pan, but a new threat requires that you return to your position within our ranks. In fact, your time with with the Shado-Pan is why we require your presence specifically. It is no coincidence that the mantid began to swarm shortly after the Sha of Fear escaped its prison beneath Niuzao Temple. We have made contact with a splinter group of mantid called the Klaxxi, and with their help we have located the Sha of Fear._

Stunned, I looked up at Taran Zhu. He nodded knowingly, and I continued reading.

_I trust you have been keeping tabs on the situation in the Krasarang Wilds. Given the length of your service, surely you are also privy to unofficial assessments of the war against the Alliance. As Regent Lord of Quel'Thalas and a loyal servant of the Horde, know that I can not officially acknowledge these assessments. That said, I do keep an open mind in such matters, and this is partly the reason the Shado-Pan will not be involved where the Sha of Fear is concerned. I have corresponded at length with Lord Taran Zhu and we have come to an agreement. Our forces alone will deal with the Sha of Fear, and in return the Shado-Pan will aid us should an even greater threat to the Horde — and Azeroth — present itself._

I paused to admire the Regent Lord's restraint in his regard of our esteemed Warchief's increasing madness before continuing.

_By order of Lady Liadrin, Matriarch and Supreme Leader of the Blood Knight Order, your leave into the service of Lord Taran Zhu and the Shado-Pan is ended, effective immediately. Transportation to the rendezvous point in the Dread Wastes has already been arranged._

_Anu belore dela'na._

_Signed,_

_Lor'themar Theron, Regent Lord of Quel'Thalas_

"Your escort will be arriving tomorrow morning," Lord Zhu informed me as I finished reading.

"I see." I folded the letter into my pocket and saluted. "It has been an honor serving the Shado-Pan, Lord Zhu."

"I was unsure of your intentions when you first offered to assist us," he said, returning the salute, "but you have honored your people well here. May the winds be at your back."

* * *

"There's the knight in shining armor now!" Chao exclaimed, holding up a tankard in my direction. "Taoshi was just recounting the _fascinating_ tale of how she saved your scrawny butt!"

"After everything we've been through," Lao-Chin joined in, "I can't believe you almost got taken out by a single meg- megala- _crazy damned_ yaungol!"

I laughed. "Maybe I read the report wrong, but I do believe Chao here found you curled up in a fetal position hugging your keg with your thumb in your mouth."

Chao and Taoshi burst out laughing and if I didn't know better, I'd have called Lao-Chin's expression indignant. "I bet you wouldn't be so witty all the damn time if you weren't sober."

"You know what," I ceded, "I think this is as good a time as any to get drunk."

The group cheered, Lao-Chin poured me a mug, and get drunk we did.

Eventually, the party ended and the group dispersed. Chao struggled to hold up Lao-Chin as she walked him back to his tent, and I smirked as Yi, normally the icon of restraint, stumbled ever so subtly behind them. Only Taoshi and myself were left, sitting across the fire from each other, staring into it thoughtfully.

"You're leaving, aren't you?" she said, less a question and more an observation.

I glanced at her and nodded. "Tomorrow morning."

"You aren't going to tell the others?"

"I've never been very good at goodbyes," I said, returning my gaze to the fire. "Besides, it's not as if my assignment here was supposed to be permanent."

She frowned in rejection of my excuse, and I relented with a smirk.

"Fine. I'll tell them first thing tomorrow morning." That seemed to satisfy her, and we sat quietly for a few moments.

"When you've finished this mission of yours," she began to ask, "what will you do afterward?"

I shrugged. "I'll probably be deployed to the war effort in the southern wilds."

"Didn't you join us to get away from that?" her tone was more accusatory now.

"Taoshi..."

"Your petty war is what started this mess. How can you continue fighting when you know it to be true? After you've fought beside us against the aftermath left by the sha's return? After last night?"

"What do you want me to do? I have a duty to my people."

"And if that duty destroys Pandaria, what then?"

"I won't let that happen."

Taoshi stood and regarded me severely. "Among your people you are just a faceless pawn in a legion of other faceless pawns. The Shado-Pan live together, fight together, know each other by name. We are your people now, just as much as they are. The only difference is we suffer as a result of their foolishness. You have a choice. For the sake of Pandaria, I hope you make the right one."

She walked off, leaving me to steep in my regret. Which I did, until the fire burned out and I returned to my tent for the night.

* * *

I awoke the next morning after a restless night, Taoshi's words still echoing in my head. She was right. What Garrosh was doing here could very well destroy Pandaria. _But as much as I've grown to care for the people here, I can't just abandon my own,_ I thought to myself. I quickly dressed and began packing, hoping it would take my mind off the subject.

I saw the flickers of light from the morning sun out of the corner of my eye. "You know," Lao-Chin said as he entered the tent, "I may be a drunkard, but I can still tell when an elf's hiding something. Those crazy eyebrows of yours twitch every time you speak."

"I would never dream of hiding anything from you, Lao-Chin." I said with a smile as I continued packing my belongings.

"Especially not leaving to chase down the Sha of Fear," said another voice, and I froze. Chao laughed and continued, "Don't worry friend. The secret's safe with us."

"We know you will defeat it," Protector Yi chimed in, "and you will have our support with whatever comes afterward."

Finally I turned to face the group that had gathered in the tent, and Lao-Chin was already barreling down on me. He lifted me off the ground with a hug, and I tried to keep myself from gasping for a breath as I watched Chao and Yi stifle their laughter.

"Careful Iron Belly," Chao snickered, "we don't want him to suffocate before he can show that monster what-for."

Finally I felt the ground under my feet again and Lao-Chin braced my shoulders. "As the largest member of the Shado-Pan," he said, leveling his gaze, "I hereby order you not to die."

He released me and saluted. I returned the salute, pretending not to notice as he wiped his eyes. Chao smiled warmly and offered a hug to him as Protector Yi took his place.

"I never would have thought an outsider could fight with the honor and skill you've displayed in your time here," Yi told me and held out his hand. "I am proud to call you a fellow member of the Shado-Pan, and a friend." I took his hand and bowed.

"I'll second that," said Chao, patting the back of a sobbing Lao-Chin on her shoulder. "The way I see it, if you can't figure out this mess with the sha, no one can." Her voice creaked and she cleared her throat before continuing. "So don't fail, you hear me?"

I nodded and felt a sting at the back of my eyes. "Yes ma'am."

"Well," said Yi, "you should probably finish packing. We have our own work to do."

"Of course." The three saluted in unison before leaving the tent. After a moment I returned to my packing, blinking away my tears.

* * *

Finally, it was time. It felt like I'd spent hours packing, and still more hours sitting on the edge of the bed waiting for the call. I stepped out into the camp, knapsack on my back, sword on my hip. It was a clear morning, clearer a morning than I'd seen since being stationed at the Garrison I thought, the sun just barely a quarter through the sky.

"Champion!" A sin'dorei woman, clad in traditional Blood Knight plate armor, waved me down from the north-east edge of the camp. She came to attention and saluted as I approached. "Knight Vessia Silversun, sir."

"At ease," I said, and she relaxed her posture. "You're my ride to the Dread Wastes?"

"Yes, sir. The Knight-Lord is very eager to brief you."

I nodded. "Then let's not waste any time."

She motioned for me to follow and led me out of the camp to where the wyvern was waiting, when I noticed a figure watching us from a nearby hill.

"I'll just be a moment," I told my escort, setting down my pack.

"I wasn't sure you would want to speak to me again after last night," Taoshi said as I walked under the shade of the tree. "Chao told me what you're leaving to do. I was presumptuous. I'm sorry."

"You were right," I conceded. "Our war with the Alliance isn't going to help my people, and will likely harm them just as much as it's harmed Pandaria."

"Is there anything you can do about it?"

"Not at the moment. But the Regent Lord tacitly acknowledges that there exists a problem that needs to be solved. We may survive this yet." Several seconds went by before I spoke again, my gaze wandering to the horizon. "Taoshi, there's something-"

Suddenly she was upon me with such force that I nearly fell over backwards, and after a stunned moment I put my arms around her.

"_Al diel shala_," she said as we embraced. We stood in each other's arms for an achingly short moment, and when we released she held my face and regarded me levelly. "When I see you again, you'd better still be alive."

"_Anar'alah belore,_" I said in reply, and turned back to board the wyvern already loaded. It took off, and I watched the camp turn into a tiny speck as we flew south to the Dread Wastes.


End file.
